I’m A Republican (And I Didn’t Even Know It)

I’m a pretty liberal kind of guy. I vote for the NDP (I’m Canadian) and I take for granted things like single payer government health care, gun control and allowing Syrian refugees to immigrate into Canada. However, according to a survey done by E-Poll market research, my TV viewing shows that I am a raging Republican who should be wearing a Trump-Pence T-shirt and be denouncing Ted Cruz for not endorsing the party’s nominee at the convention. Well at least I can get that part right, although probably not for the same reasons as a “real” Republican.

The E-Poll Market Research Poll listed the Top Ten shows preferred by people self-identifying as Democrats and Republicans. According to the methodology section of the survey’s report:

E-Score analyzed more than 750 prime time broadcast, cable and streaming programs among Americans of voting age whose political affiliation is either Republican or Democrat and ranked the results for shows described as "One of My Favorites" by each group.

E-Score Programs is a monthly tracking survey that measures awareness, viewing and perceptions of more than 3,000 US television programs. Surveys are conducted monthly among a representative sample of US viewers with 1,200 respondents per show.

 

I’m not entirely sure how this particular survey was conducted but I suspect it wasn’t under the most rigourous conditions. Nevertheless it did come up with some interesting results.
 
Here is a table of the shows preferred by Republicans (in Red) and Democrats (in Blue). Shows in Purple are in the top ten lists of both parties. The shows that I watch regularly are in italics.

Democrats                                          Republicans

Rank	Show	Network	Show	Network
1	Game Of Thrones	HBO	Supernatural	CW
2	The Haves and the Have Nots	OWN	The Walking Dead	AMC
3	Supernatural	CW	Scorpion	CBS
4	The Big Bang Theory	CBS	Arrow	CW
5	Suits	USA	The Flash	CW
6	The Walking Dead	AMC	The Big Bang Theory	CBS
7	How To Get Away With Murder	ABC	NCIS	CBS
8	Doctor Who	BBCA	Blue Bloods	CBS
9	Empire	FOX	Grimm	NBC
10	Nashville	ABC	Last Man Standing	ABC

Fifty percent of the shows that I watch are exclusively on the Republican list, while the only Democratic show that I watch is actually bipartisan. Ergo, I am a Republican. Heaven help me. There’s probably a reason for this which I’ll get into later.
 
The poll offers some findings, the validity of which I’m not sure I can get behind but here they are.
Democrats prefer programs that are:

• Sexy: The top three shows described by Democrats as “sexy” were Game Of Thrones, The Haves and the Have Nots, Suits
• Edgy
• Emotionally involving
• Ethnically diverse or have strong characters: 3 of the top 10 shows: The Haves and the Have Nots, How to Get Away with Murder, and Empire all have a racially diverse cast and have powerful lead roles for women. This reflects the Democratic viewer who is also typically more diverse, with higher concentration of black and female supporters.

Republicans prefer programs that are:

• Family-friendly: Half of the top ten shows on the Rebuplican list had more than 25% of respondents describing the shows as "Family Friendly" and air on broadcast television.
• Funny: Although there are only two outright comedies on the Republican list and one of those is also on the Democratic list.
• Plot driven or have storylines that involve "good vs. evil": Republicans enjoy clearer "good vs. evil" characters and storylines. They prefer shows featuring superheroes like The Flash, Arrow and the super intelligent team on Scorpion. Two procedural programs – NCIS and Blue Bloods – also have the "good vs. evil" component, as well as skewing slightly older than some other programs in the list.

So here’s what I take from the data as presented:

• Republicans prefer the broadcast networks almost exclusively – nine of the ten shows on the Republican list are on broadcast networks. The exception is The Walking Dead which is on AMC. By contrast half of the shows on the Democratic list are on broadcast, and one show Game Of Thrones is on premium cable.
• Republicans prefer shows that are “one and done”; in other words shows where the primary focus is not on a continuing arc, although such an arc may exist in a secondary or tertiary focus. Only one show that the Republican list has an ongoing story arc. At least half of the shows on the Democratic list have ongoing story arcs as a primary focus (Game Of Thrones, The Haves and the Have Nots, Walking Dead, How To Get Away With Murder, Doctor Who, Empire, and Nashville).
• The question of diversity is an interesting one. The Democratic list has probably the more diverse group, with The Haves and the Have Nots, How To Get Away With Murder and Empire either having a predominantly African-American cast or African-American leads, while How To Get Away With Murder and Nashville have female leads. None of the shows on the Republican list have African-Americans in leading roles, and of the shows that I watch on the Republican list, Scorpion, The Big Bang Theory, and Blue Bloods don’t have any African-Americans in their regular cast (I can’t speak to the shows I don’t watch). But is that an indictment of the taste of Republicans or is it a problem with the casting of these shows.
• The “law and order” shows. This is a bit of a stretch, but there’s a high percentage of shows that deal with “law and order” in the Republican list. NCIS and Blue Bloods are both overtly about law enforcement; NCIS is about a law enforcement agency while Blue Bloods is about a family of New York cops, including the police commissioner. Scorpion is about what are essentially private contractors working for the Department of Homeland Security. The lead characters in Grimm are cops dealing with supernatural threats, while the leads in The Flash and Arrow are costumed vigilantes working with the police. I think you could even argue that the characters in Supernatural are involved in some sort of protective operation, while The Walking Dead shows what happens after order breaks down.

So that explains, or at least investigates some aspects of the lists. So why do I watch the “Republican” shows that I do? Well Arrow and The Flash are easy. I’ve been a DC Comics fanboy since I was old enough to connect the words and the pictures together. DC, not Marvel. For some reason Spiderman and the Fantastic Four never did it for me. As for Blue Bloods and NCIS, that’s a bit more complicated. I’ve been a fan of both Mark Harmon and Tom Selleck since Selleck did Magnum and Harmon did, well probably Centennial (so not his earliest work in other words; I’m sure I never saw Sam and probably missed 240-Robert and I know I avaoided Flamingo Road on general principle). They were my gateways into their current shows but I’ve stayed because I really like the shows. I like the ensemble cast in NCIS and the way they’ve expanded the Gibbs character to give him a reason for being how he is. I like the ensemble cast in Blue Bloods as well and the fact that the show makes the personal, family lives of the characters not only visible but vital to the show, in repudiation of the Dick Wolf/Law & Order formula in which the characters have no lives outside of work – or at least no lives that we are permitted to know much about. In a way Blue Bloods is a family drama that just happens to be about a family of cops.

The reasons why I don’t watch more “Democratic” shows are a bit more complicated. Game of Thrones is of course on a premium channel although this summer, to coincide with the Olympics, CTV will air the complete first season – uncut – on broadcast TV. The Haves and the Have Nots doesn’t air up here, even though we have our own Oprah Winfrey Network here in Canada. Suits is another basic cable show in the US that I might like if I saw it, but the ways shows like that air in Canada it’s very difficult for me to find where and when it is on. I gave up on How To Get Away With Murder early in the second season when I came to the conclusion that there was absolutely no one on that show that I had any sympathy or empathy for. The subject matter of Nashville simply doesn’t interest me, Pretty much the same thing is true about Empire, and while I tried the first episode of Supernatural (and it has featured one of my favourite character actors, Jim Beaver, who is a scholar and a gentleman in so many ways) I had no desire to stick with it. (By the way, is it just me or are Supernatural and Grimm basically the same show?) As for Doctor Who, I love the series but I share my TV with someone who loathes it, and as most politicians eventually learn – though I’m not sure about some Replublicans in recent years – you’ve got to go along to git along, so I don’t get to see Doctor Who.

So there you have it. My viewing habits say that I’m a Republican, even though I’m just Canadian.

New Polls–Which Shows Will Be Cancelled Quickest

These two polls are pretty simple. All you have to do is vote for the show which you think will be cancelled quickest. The shows are split into two categories: Drama and Comedy. To be considered in this poll the shows have to debut before the end of December 2012 and have been announced at the May Upfronts.

Now for the purposes of these polls “quickest” will be defined as the fewest number of episodes aired regardless of when the show starts. So, if a show that starts in September airs four episodes and a show that debuts in October airs three episodes, the October show is the one that was cancelled quickest. This actually happened last year when Free Agents was cancelled after four episodes but was cancelled before How To Be A Gentleman was cancelled. How To Be A Gentleman “won” because it ended up airing only three episodes.

It is also important to note that what counts is the number of episodes that air, even if the episodes air on Saturdays or some other “parking” time slot. How To Be A Gentleman was effectively cancelled after two episodes in its original Thursday night time slot, but had shot nine episodes. CBS planned to burn off the remaining seven episodes of the show on Saturdays but ended up showing only one for a total of three episodes aired. Had CBS aired three episodes on Saturday night Free Agents would have been the “winner.”

Officially – because Blogger’s polling system requires a deadline – the deadline for these polls will be the end of November 2012. The actual deadline will be the day that the first new show in a particular category is cancelled.

Poll Results-Outstanding Drama Series

Last of our Emmy polls, and this one had a really small turnout. That May very well have been because I was late in putting up the announcement. I really thought I had put it up when I finished typing it up, but I was tired that night.

 

Anyway, there were five votes cast. Boardwalk Empire, Game Of Thrones, and Mad Men received no votes. Breaking Bad received one vote (20%). Tied for the win are Downton Abbey and Homeland with two votes each (40%).

 

The low voter turnout for this one was a surprise for me, but beyond that I’m still trying to process the votes that were cast in my own mind. The two HBO shows in the list didn’t get any votes. Given the focus of this blog that’s not overly surprising. And if what I’ve heard about Mad Men having an off season is correct then that one also seems logical; great performances – and no one is disputing the performances turned in by the Mad Men cast, particularly Christina Hendricks – do not necessarily add up to a great whole.

 

Which leaves us with the shows that received votes.I haven’t seen any of the three shows that got votes but I’ve heard a lot of critical support for all three. Breaking Bad is always a contender and in its penultimate season (which in AMC terms means it will be around for two more Emmy cycles) it apparently delivered a heavy dramatic punch. I certainly understand the love for Homeland which seems to me to have boosted the standard for the year (and in my opinion is the nominee most likely to dethrone Mad Men as Outstanding Drama Series). But I don’t get the adoration for Downton Abbey. Okay, I know it’s a BBC produced “family saga” of the sort that the Emmys have loved since The Forsythe Saga about 40 years ago (40 years? Suddenly I feel downright elderly because I watched and enjoyed The Forsythe Saga when it was on CBC; I even tried reading the books). But is it as good as the other shows in the category or is it the best show that the Emmy voters could find on Broadcast TV? I’m just not sure.

 

The new polls for the new shows most likely to be cancelled quickest will be up later today, after I go form my optometrist appointment.

New Poll-Outstanding Drama Series

Yeah, that took a bit longer than I expected. So the deadline will be pushed later as well.

For the final time this Emmy season, please vote for the series that you believe should win the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. Please feel free to explain why you feel the way that you do by posting a comment under this topic. It will make a change from dealing with Comment Spam.

Deadline for this poll is 12:01 a.m. on September 14th.

Poll Results-Outstanding Comedy Series

This poll had one of the most unexpected, and I dare say unusual results I’ve seen in the time that I’ve been doing these polls.

Eight votes were cast. Girls and Veep received no votes. Last year’s winner in the actual Emmys, Modern Family, received one vote (13%). Tied with two votes each (25%) were Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Big Bang Theory. But the winner, with three votes (38%) was ….. 30 Rock!?

That was the unexpected part. Here’s the unusual part. If I had run these poll results twenty-four hours earlier, 30 Rock would have been in a tie…with Girls and Veep with no votes. If I had run the poll results eight hours ago, the show would have been in a tie with Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Big Bang Theory. The last three votes received (according to the email sent by the software that I use to do the polls) were all for 30 Rock, and all came in in a twelve hour period – two of them at the same time! And this is not the first poll this has happened in.

Now not to throw cold water on the people who voted in my poll, but 30 Rock isn’t going to win as Outstanding Comedy Series, nor, in my not so humble opinion should it win as Outstanding Comedy Series. A great comedy series? Undoubtedly. Deserving of being nominated? Indubitably. But the Outstanding Comedy Series of the 2011-12 season? No.

Now admittedly – because I admit it just about every time I write about comedy series – I don’t watch a lot of the comedies on TV. Of the nominees I only watch The Big Bang Theory on a regular basis and I usually manage to catch about an episode a year of Modern Family. But everything that I’ve heard tells me that 30 Rock‘s best days are behind it (though there is something inspired about having Margaret Cho not only play Kim Jong-il but bringing her back after the real Kim Jong-il died). Frankly I don’t know who should win, although I will be cheering for The Big Bang Theory on Emmy night. Maybe Todd Mason is right in the comment he wrote for the blog: “This is the kind of spavined list I expect from awards-show folks, and they don't disappoint...though I haven't yet looked up the Emmy that a more deserving candidate, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, is up for.” Oh well, at least it gave me an excuse for running a picture of Tina Fey.

The next – and final – Emmy post of this season will be up in a few hours.

New Poll–Outstanding Comedy Series

First things first: I’ve decided not to do the “Outstanding Reality-Competition” category this year. There are two basic reasons for this. First and foremost, I want to start the “Which show will be cancelled the quickest?” polls before most of the new shows debut and I’d be pushing it if I ran the Reality-Competition poll. I need better time management for this. Second, the Reality Competition category has basically been dominated by The Amazing Race… everywhere except here. It sort of takes the sport out of it. So let’s skip the category this year.

 

As usual, the rules are simple. Vote for the series that you think should win the Emmy as Outstanding Comedy Series, and if you feel the urge to comment on the nominees or the poll, feel free to do so right here.

 

Deadline is Tuesday September 4th at around noon(ish).

Poll Results–Outstanding Actor In A Drama

This one is probably going to have more pictures than text. Nine votes were cast and we have a three way tie. Hugh Bonneville, Steve Buscemi and Michael C. Hall all received no votes. Bryan Cranston, Jon Hamm and Damien Lewis all received three votes each (33%).

I’m pretty sure that the winner again this year will be Bryan Cranston for playing Walter White on Breaking Bad. And, from a lot of what I’m hearing – I don’t watch Breaking Bad, by choice – Cranston turns in another amazing performance this year as the former high school Chemistry teacher who started out “just” cooking meth to build up a nest egg for his family, but has increasingly become darker and more evil. The Walter White who was seen at the start of the series is not the Walter White we are seeing today, and that sort of change and growth in a character reflects well on the actor who portrays the character (though it hasn’t even gotten an Emmy nod for Anna Torv *pout*).

The dominance of Bryan Cranston in this category has had a negative effect on Jon Hamm’s chances of winning an Emmy for playing Don Draper in Mad Men. In three of the four previous years in which he has been nominated for the Outstanding Actor in a Drama Emmy he has gone head to head with Cranston and a performance that – in most years – would have earned him the Emmy has wound up as the runner-up (one would surmise). And the fact is that it would be hard to convince a lot of people that the wrong decision had been made; that Hamm’s performance was in fact better than Cranston’s. Last year’s Emmy’s, when Breaking Bad wasn’t eligible for the awards, may have been Hamm’s best chance for the Emmy and he lost to Kyle Chandler for Friday Night Lights. Now that is one you can argue about, considering that Hamm submitted a strong episode – The Suitcase – while I think it could be argued that Chandler’s award was as much a cumulative award for five years of outstanding performances as for the episode submitted. But Cranston’s back, and it may be that Jon Hamm’s chance to get an Emmy for the role of Don Draper has passed.

The dark horse in this race is probably Damien Lewis for playing Nicholas Brody in Homeland. A caveat here is that I’ve always enjoyed watching Lewis in just about everything I’ve seen him in, including the mini-series Band Of Brothers, where he played Major Dick Winters, and the criminally underrated Life where he played Charlie Crews. I haven’t seen Homeland, but everything I’ve heard about the show, and the characters in it – those played by Lewis and his co-star Claire Danes – are complex and not always what they seem, with layers over top of layers. I would love to see Damien Lewis win in this category, but I’m afraid that it’s not to be.

New poll up in a bit.

New Poll–Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama

As usual, please vote for the actor you feel should win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama rather than for the one you believe will win if they aren’t one and the same. And, again as usual feel free to comment on why you feel they should win in the category – or why someone else shouldn’t. Do NOT feel free to include an ad for Comcast’s “The Hopper” DVR service. I’ve been getting a number of those and they go right to the Spam Bucket.

Deadline for this poll is Sunday August 26 at around noon(ish). By which time I will hopefully figure out what the next poll will be.

Poll Results–Outstanding Actress In A Drama

First a couple of housekeeping things. I’ve been meaning to get the next episode of the first season of The Amazing Race finished but I’ve been having some time management issues in terms of finding the time to do the work to finish it up. sometime this weekend…I hope. This got a bit messed up when I added a second Hard Drive to my computer and needed to move a bunch of files to it. Also, I haven’t decided yet but I might cut the Reality-Competition Poll and end the rest of my Emmy Polling nine days early so I can do the Cancellation Polls that proved so popular last year. No decision yet though.

And now on to the poll results. There were nine votes cast, the most in this polling cycle. Glenn Close (Damages), Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey), Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men) and “None of the Above” received no votes (and I think I’ll drop None of the Above from future categories). Kathy Bates (Harry’s Law) had one vote (11% of votes cast), and Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) had three votes (33%). But the winner was Claire Danes (Homeland) with five votes (56%). What’s interesting to me is that all of the votes for Margulies came in in the past three or four days, while the single vote for Kathy Bates was the first vote received. Not sure what, if anything, that means but I found it curious.

For myself, I might have used the “None of the Above” option to deliver a protest vote on behalf of Anna Torv because I love her performance in Fringe (and I admit, I’m a bit smitten with her), but on the whole I think the poll got both the person who will win and the person who should win right when you voted for Claire Danes. I haven’t seen the show, but everything I’ve read indicates that the part of Carrie Mathison in Homeland is an extremely complex one and Danes throws herself into the part. Margulies was last year’s winner, and a deserving one, but I just think that between the subject matter and the intensity of the role, Danes has a part that should win her the Emmy. And as much as I’d like to see Elizabeth Moss (or Anna Torv) win an Emmy, this is just Claire Danes’s year.

New poll up shortly.

New Poll-Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama

I’m really doing all of this the night before deadline in hopes that I can get everything posted before I head out for the casino. If you’re reading this before noon on August 8th I succeeded, if it didn’t get posted until the afternoon I failed.

Just to review the rules, simply vote for the actress you think should win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama; not who you think will win but who you think should win. If you vote for “None of the Above” or simply want to express why you think the person you voted for is the most deserving candidate to be the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama, post them here. I’ve also included a link below the Poll to make it a bit easier once I post my next Amazing Race recap. I’ll try to run the comments with the next set of results.

Deadline for this poll will be August 17tha at around Noon…ish.

Poll Results-Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy

Well at least I know where I stand with this week’s single poll results. No guessing about how many of the voters thought that they were voting for who should win even though the poll sais who would win.

And I certainly know where I – or rather those of you who voted – stand on who should win in this category. And maybe even who you think will win. There were seven votes cast. The following received no votes: Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Don Cheadle (House of Lies), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Jon Cryer (Two And A Half Men), and None of the Above. Louie CK (Louie) received one vote (14%). But the overwhelming winner, with six votes (86%) was last years winner of both the Emmy and this poll, Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory).

From my perspective this is a good choice and pretty much the result I was expecting. Of the shows listed here I I have access to either three or four (I’m not sure if Curb Your Enthusiasm is available on a cable channel I receive) of the nominees. I know that I’ve seen moments of two of them – 30 Rock and Two And A Half Men – but there’s only one that I watch and that is Big Bang Theory. And it needs to be said that a huge reason why I watch the Big Bang Theory is because of Jim Parsons. Granted the show has a nice ensemble cast around it and most of the characters elicit some laughter from me, the one who gets me every time is parsons and his character of Doctor Sheldon Cooper. I love the character’s quirks, his enthusiasms, and most of all when one or more of the other characters one ups him.

I don’t know enough about the other performances, and in particular the performances in the premium cable shows to really offer an opinion. I know that both Alec Baldwin and Jon Cryer have won Emmys in the past – Cryer’s came as a total surprise to everyone, probably including both Alec Baldwin and Cryer’s co-star Charlie Sheen. I also know that Larry David has been nominated five times since 2002 and not won an Emmy. I don’t know much about House of Lies, but I do know some of Don Cheadle’s work, both in comedies and dramas, and I know he’s a very strong actor. As for Louie CK, I know virtually nothing about him but professional critics whose work I respect speak highly of him and the show. I just know the enjoyment I get out of watching Jim Parsons in every episode of Big Bang Theory.

New Poll up shortly…or maybe not since I’m heading out to the casino for a few hours.

New Poll–Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy

Right here we are with the next Emmy Poll singular. The rules are deceptively simple (like me). Just cast your vote for the Actor who you think should win the Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy. If you choose to vote “None of the above” I would appreciate it if you would add a comment in this post saying who you think should win the Emmy. And of course feel free to comment on why you think the person you pick should win in this category, or about the quality of the nominees in this category, or even to bitch about why you think that putting up this poll is a total and complete waste of time when there are so many more vital and important issues in the world than who will win an Emmy.

No kidding, I had someone drop a comment just like that a few years ago when I ran one of these polls. My response was that in the grand scheme of things the Emmys aren’t that important, but that in the world of American TV they are important, and since this is a blog about American TV that meant that they had to be reported on in the blog.

Anyway, the deadline for this poll and the release of the next one is August 8th at around noonish.

Poll Results–Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy

Housekeeping detail to take care of first. The two poll idea is officially scrapped. I set up two polls this year, one for who people thought would win the Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy category and the other for who people thought should win in the category. I expected some discrepancy between the two polls and boy did I get it. Until early this morning only one of the two polls received any votes beyond a test by me to make sure it was running properly. People only seemed to respond to the “who will win…” poll which was the uppermost of the two, not the “who should win…” poll. But of course what I want to find out is “who should win…” so from here on in I’ll only be running a single poll. My other change this year – adding “none of the above” and including a link to a post where you can say who you think should win instead in the comments section – will continue for now.

The results in the one poll that had multiple voters were quite ambiguous causing me to wonder if four of the five people who actually voted did indeed cast their votes for who should win. Lena Dunham from Girls, Edie Falco from Nurse Jackie, and Tina Fey from 30 Rock received no votes. Zooey Deschanel (The New Girl), Amy Poehler (Parks & Recreation) and Julia Louis Dreyfuss (Veep) each received one vote of the five cast or 20% each. But the winner in this category was Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly) who got two votes (40%).

As I mentioned, two votes were cast in the “who should win…” poll but one of those – a “None of the above” – was cast by me as a test. The other vote was cast early this morning (I know this because my polling software sends me a notification for each vote cast). That one vote went to Amy Poehler, so by default she wins this poll with 100% of the actual vote.

I honestly don’t have an opinion. None of Nurse Jackie, Girls, and Veep are available on channels that I get, and given my often stated general ambivalence to comedy it will come as no surprise that I haven’t watched episodes of any of the shows that are available on my cable service – or at least not this season. So as far as who deserves to win, I can honestly say I have no idea, and there are too many conflicting factors – four previous winners in the category, including the person who won last year; three women on cable shows; one member of “TV royalty” (a multiple winner for a much beloved classic show); one star on a show with a certain amount of controversy; a well liked newcomer on broadcast TV – to be able to pinpoint an obvious choice for who will win the Emmy. As far as I’m concerned, this is a wide open category.

New poll (singular) up in shortly.

New Polls–Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy

I’ve decided to shake my Emmy polls up a bit this year. It’s fairly simple: instead of one poll on who should win the Emmy in the various categories I’ll be posting two polls each polling period, one for whoyou think should win and one for who you think will win. In addition, in the Who should win polls I am adding an additional choice.”None of the above” in case you think that the none of the people nominated in the category deserves to win the Emmy. If you vote “None of the above” however, I want you to specify who you think deserves to win more in the comment section of this post.

Beyond that I welcome any comments on these polls and about why you think the person you voted for in either poll either will win or deserves to win. Deadline for the first pair of polls is July 30th at Noon (approximately).

Poll Results–The Biggest Disappointments of 2011-12

When I started the poll of the “Biggest Disappointments of the 2011-12 TV season” I originally didn’t have a shutdown date for the poll. I thought I might let it run until the Emmy Nominations came out and I’d then launch my famous Emmy Polls. More recently I was leaning towards July 1st because it seemed to me that most of the people who were going to vote had voted. I am now pulling the plug effective immediately….because there is news.

In one of the greatest turnouts in the history of the polls I’ve run, 30 votes were cast in this poll. The following options received no votes:

• “Working It getting on the air”
• “2 Broke Girls having stereotyped secondary characters”
• “The Secret Circle being cancelled while lower rated CW shows were renewed”
• “Missing being cancelled”

These options received one vote (3%) each:

• “Ringer not being a better show”
• “The X-Factor not delivering the audience that Simon Cowell (and various “experts”) expected”

“GCB not living up to the hype” got two votes (7%).

“NYC 22 not being as good as the people associated with it” and “Terra Nova delivering neither value or quality for the money spent on it” each received three votes (10%).

The big – overewhelming really – winner was “Unforgettable being cancelled despite the ratings” which picked up twenty (20!) votes or 67% of the votes cast. And just for the record, I don’t vote in my polls but if I had, I’d probably have been the 21st vote. Based on virtually every standard (except maybe the almighty demographic and even that wasn’t clear-cut) this was a show that shouldn’t have been dropped.

Which brings us to the news, and why I decided to pull the poll. On Friday CBS announced that they will give Unforgettable a second season. This preempts negotiations with the TNT and Lifetime cable channels to revive the show. Admittedly the circumstances aren’t the best. The renewal is for a 13 episode run, and the plan is that the show will air in the summer of 2013 but it’s a start, and I have a suspicion that we might be seeing this show sooner rather than later if some of the CBS line-up fails to perform as well as the network expects. After all Nina Tassler said that the big problem for Unforgettable wasn’t “what went wrong” with the show but rather “what went right with the new pilots.” If those pilots turn out not to have been so “right” after all, I hope that the network will be willing to swallow their pride and push the revival of unforgettable forward into the second half of the regular season. (I just wouldn’t bet the farm on it).

I had a couple of comments on the original poll so I might as well finish up with them. Todd Mason corrected me on the name of the creator of NYC 22 (Richard not Robert Price) and added this:

… NYC 22, which (as I've noted on my own blog) managed to be more feckless and lifeless than ROOKIE BLUE (which I hadn't noted never quite admits it's set in Toronto, so obvious is that fact...it's even more blatant than HILL STREET BLUES being set in Chicago).

Being blatant isn’t the same as outright stating the fact, and to the the best of my knowledge (not that I watch the show) Rookie Blue has never admitted that it’s set in Toronto. Then again neither has Flashpoint, though on Flashpoint the crowns and Canadian flags on the uniforms suggest it.

Sadly, TWO BROKE GIRLS was created by Michael Patrick King, the hack behind the hack that is Darren Star, and the comedian Whitney Cummings, who is clever but is willing to go for the easiest imaginable joke, particularly in a sitcom context (hence the quick exhaustion of her other sitcom, WHITNEY... where we had the unusual result that her performance, rather than the writing of a comedian's sitcom, was what saving grace there was).

The thing for me about 2 Broke Girls is that I basically like the show, and am only vaguely bothered by the supporting characters because I’m focused on the leads. Or maybe I’m just an old fart who doesn’t see the racism in most of this.

pattinasse (abbott) wrote:

I would add ALCATRAZ and AWAKE, which both seemed promising. ALCATRAZ was too wedded to its central idea and AWAKE, not enough.

I definitely should have added Alcatraz, probably replacing Working It. Alcatraz was a show I really loved and was ready to review…right up to the moment when I saw the ratings for either the first or second week and knew that it was doomed. Too bad, because it was a fun show, and I’m a sucker for just about anything that Sam Neill does. Awake was a show that intrigued me and I was going to watch it, but then I missed recording the second or third episode and then lost most of what I had when the PVR expander died. I guess I should have also made mention of another show I didn’t watch but which some people felt disappointed about losing: Harry’s Law. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

New Poll–Biggest Disappointment Of The 2011-12 Season

What constitutes a disappointment when it comes to a TV series? It varies I suppose. Sometimes it’s as simple as a show being cancelled. Sometimes it’s that a series isn’t cancelled and maybe should have been…at least in your opinion. Sometimes it’s that the show isn’t as good as you thought it would be, and sometimes it’s that the show is good but somehow does something that rubs you the wrong way. Mostly though a show disappoints when it or its fate doesn’t live up to expectations. No one – except maybe the people responsible for it – would call the fate of How To Be A Gentleman a disappointment because no one thought it was going to do anything except get cancelled quickly. Thus there was no disappointment when it died a quick (and well-deserved) death.

So what I’m doing with this poll is to present a list of ten series that were somehow regarded as disappointments. Some of these shows came from the outrage of fans, as expressed on forums and comments pages for news stories. Some of them come from critics. And a few of them come from me. As always, feel free to justify your votes by offering comments here.

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GCB
Why is it disappointing? It didn’t live up to the hype I suppose. GCB was basically being sold as the logical successor to Desperate Housewives. It was scheduled to follow Desperate Housewives presumably to build and transfer “brand loyalty” from the older series. I remember when Pan Am was facing collapsing ratings my ratings guru, Marc Berman, kept emphasising that GCB was going to replace Pan Am at the mid-season mark and would undoubtedly perform significantly better than Pan Am. In fact GCB was only marginally better than Pan Am in overall viewers (about 480,000 more viewers) and the share and ratings in the 18-49 demographic (Pan Am 2.4 rating 6 share; GCB 2.6 rating 7 share). So GCB can be labelled a disappointment because it was a show that people expected a lot of and which didn’t deliver.

Work It
Why is it disappointing? Because ABC bought it. Pretty much everyone could tell that How To Be A Gentleman was going to die quickly based on the clips and trailers that aired before the season started so it wasn’t a disappointment that it failed. In fact it would probably have been a disappointment if it had survived. Work It has to be regarded as a different case. Everyone could see that this show was going to die quickly based on the description. The show, about a couple of guys who dress up as women to get jobs as pharmaceutical reps, was part of ABC’s group of shows that were attempting to look at the “plight” of the American male in a world where(supposedly) women have the upper hand. That part of the premise was in itself somewhat offensive but the approach they took to it was even worse. They had the men dress as women which opened a whole can of worms with the transgender community who felt the series trivialized the barriers facing them. But that wasn’t even the key element in why the show failed. It lacked the charm that a show like Bosom Buddies had, and by the very nature of the main conceit – that women have it better than men in the current job market – trivialized a lot of issues. The disappointment here wasn’t that it ran just two episodes, but that given the network’s lead time and the failures they had with their other comedies in the “plight of the American male” genre a major American network actually put this steaming pile of you-know-what on the air at all.

NYC 22
Why is it disappointing? When you look at the people associated with this project I don’t think that anyone could have been blamed for expecting more and better. The show had Robert DeNiro, Jane Rosenthal and Robert Price as Executive producers. Price, whose long list of writing credits includes the The Wire, for which he won one Writers Guild Award and was nominated for another. With the talent attached to this project it would not seem unreasonable to expect something edgy and pushing the boundaries. What we got was a pedestrian and well worn show about rookie cops. Even that doesn’t have to be bad – you need only look at the parts of the first three seasons of Southland that dealt with Ben Sherman’s (Benjamin MacKenzie) time as a rookie to see what can be pulled form this sort of material. But they didn’t go that route. The result was that CBS had a show that was more like ABC’s summer series Rookie Blue but set in New York instead of “nameless city that is Toronto without actually saying its Toronto.” It should have been better.

Unforgettable
Why is it disappointing? It was cancelled. Judged purely by the storyline of the series that wouldn’t seem to be a huge loss. The show appears to  be a fairly run of the mill procedural, with the hook being that the lead character is a woman has hyperthymesia, a mental condition that will not let her forget anything that she consciously saw. Not only does this help her as a detective, it makes her hard to beat at Poker and Blackjack. In fact the only thing she can’t remember clearly is what happened on the day her sister was murdered. So as I say, it looks like a fairly run of the mill procedural. What really sets it apart is that it finished 24th in the ratings for the 2011-12 season and averaged 12.11 million viewers. Admittedly it did not perform as well in the 18-49 demographic, averaging a 2.5 rating and a 7 share finishing in 70th place in that area, but even so it outperformed CBS’s entire Friday night line-up in the demographic. The simple fact seems to be that Unforgettable was cancelled because it was on CBS. The network has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to programming. This actually becomes a problem because it keeps new shows from getting a chance to develop. Other networks would kill to have a problem like this; NBC would round up virgins to sacrifice to have a scripted show that did these sorts of ratings even with that rating in the demographic. There’s been some talk that the series might be picked up by a cable outlet in the US – both TNT and Lifetime are said to be interested – but it is a disappointment that it was cancelled in the first place when other, less worthy shows stay on broadcast TV.

2 Broke Girls
Why is it disappointing? I really enjoyed the first season of the show, particularly the relationship between Max (Kat Dennings) and Caroline (Beth Behrs). I liked that Caroline was portrayed less as a Paris Hilton style millionaire bubblehead and more as an Ivanka Trump type…with maybe a just a touch of Paris (Ivanka would know how to marry the ketchup). I was particularly impressed with Behrs whose biggest role up to this time was as a caroler in an episode of NCIS. However critics have been disappointed with the show because of the three – now four – main supporting characters, Earl (Garrett Morris), Han (Matthew Moy), Oleg (Jonathon Kite) and the most recent addition Sophie (Jennifer Coolidge). While the characters of Caroline and Max are well drawn, the supporting characters are regarded as stereotypes. Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker wrote that the way the supporting characters are written is “so racist it is less offensive than baffling.” Another critic said that the show relies on “racial humor [that] consists entirely of having a stereotype show up, portraying it in the most obnoxious way possible, then having everybody make fun of it.” The portrayal that has been found particularly offensive by some is Han Lee, the manager of the diner. Andrew Ti in Grantland as “it's distressingly easy to imagine the writers sitting around and listing off every single ching-chong stereotype, ultimately deciding with some sorrow that a Fu Manchu mustache would be impractical for budget reasons.” And that doesn’t even mention the New Zealand critic who gave up on the show because of “those two rape jokes in the first three episodes.”

Ringer
Why is it disappointing? This series was supposed to be the triumphal return of Sarah Michelle Gellar to television, and on the successor to the network where she earned her primetime fame, The pilot for show was originally made for CBS but when that network passed on it they moved it to The CW (of which it is part owner). The show had an intriguing premise: Bridget, a stripper and recovering drug addict on the run from the mob assumes the identity of Siobhan, her wealthy married twin sister who has apparently committed suicide, only to discover that Siobhan had secrets of her own. The show received a lot of press and Internet buzz during the summer and reviews for the pilot were generally good, although with a few dissenters. The pilot received the highest ratings that a Tuesday night show on The CW has ever gotten. This didn’t translate into ongoing success as ratings dropped significantly, and the critics who initially loved the show came to dislike it, finding it convoluted and silly. Worst of all it didn’t seem to fit the  network. So in the end the disappointment here is that The CW didn’t take the momentum and anticipation that built up during the summer and translate it into a long term success, and that they didn’t produce a series that was worthy of the quality of people that starred in it. Or maybe it is just that he network was incapable of breaking the mould of the sort of shows that people expect from The CW.

The Secret Circle
Why is it disappointing? This show was cancelled, and as with Unforgettable it is a little perplexing. Maybe more perplexing than Unforgettable when you come right down to it. The Secret Circle was the third highest rated series on its network. Now admittedly the network was The CW which has rating that can most flatteringly described as anemic, but according to the traditional season ratings compiled by Nielsen it had a larger audience than several other shows on the network including Gossip Girl, 90210, Hart Of Dixie, and Supernatural, all of which were renewed for at least thirteen episodes. In fact the only shows on The CW that had higher average ratings than The Secret Circle were the show that preceded it on Thursday night, The Vampire Diaries (from the same producers as The Secret Circle and a book series from the same author) and cycle 17 of America’s Next Top Model – cycle 18 of that show had an average viewership that was less than The Secret Circle.

Missing
Why is it disappointing? For a long time I had The Finder in this spot. That was justified because a lot of people, including at least one critic who I think a lot of, said that on seeing FOX’s new line-up they increasingly thought that the network should have kept The Finder as a nice compliment to Bones. They tended to think that FOX mishandled The Finder for most of its run. As much as I enjoyed The Finder though I just can’t muster up that much disappointment that it was cancelled. As I said, I liked the show and its incredibly quirky nature. The problem is that I fully expected that it would be cancelled. Besides, I was far more disappointed about another show that was cancelled, and that is Missing. Missing starred Ashley Judd as Becca Winstone, a woman who was a CIA agent and whose son was kidnapped. The show had Judd’s character kicking ass throughout Europe. Locations for the show included Italy, Croatia, France, the Czech Republic, Austria and Turkey. All the while she is trying to unravel the conspiracy that took her son and remembering things that she did while she was a CIA agent, much of which she is not proud of. The cast included Keith Carradine, Cliff Curtis, Adriano Giannini, and Nick Eversam. Best of all it has the distinction of starting by killing Sean Bean and ending with him alive and well – the reverse of most of Sean Bean’s roles. And while it had an end that went full circle and delivered an satisfying resolution to the disappearance of Becca’s son the final minutes set things up so there could have been a second season. I was disappointed that it was cancelled.

Terra Nova
Why is it disappointing? This show had so much potential, but it was potential that was never realised. The idea of a dystopian future society attempting to save itself by colonizing the prehistoric age of the dinosaurs is full of potential. Unfortunately this Steven Spielberg produced series managed to ignore the storylines with real potential and turned the show into a rather uninteresting juvenile series. The focus of most of the episodes was on the children of the main adult characters having adventures and managing to save the day. Or screwing up and being forgiven. Or wanting to keep a pet dinosaur. In general it seemed as if the kids were, if not smarter than the adults then at least the ones that the most interesting things happened to. The adult characters were, for the most part boring. Worse, the overriding mytharc was both confusing and not particularly interesting. At times it seemed as if they were making it up as they went along. The show was tremendously expensive and delivered neither value for the money nor the quality expected from the producers. The show that replaced it, Alcatraz, was (in my opinion anyway) more interesting and more exciting than Terra Nova. At the time that the series appeared, when I was attempting to write a review of Terra Nova, my opinion was that sometime in the future Terra Nova could be remade into the series it should have been rather than the series that it was.

The X-Factor
Why is it disappointing? This isn’t my assessment but the disappointment here lies in the show’s ratings. Before the show debuted it was claimed that if the series drew “anything less than 20 million viewers” it would be a flop. Those words came from the series’ producer and star Simon Cowell. He felt that anything less than the sort of ratings American Idol had received the season before would represent failure. Others took up the cry; I remember listening to Marc Berman’s podcasts and in every episode he claimed that The X-Factor would be a giant-killer, a success of immeasurable proportions. In the event, the show finished in 19th place in the ratings with 12.67 million viewers, although it did well in the 18-49 demographic (4.4 rating and a 12 share for the performance episodes). For comparison, the performance episodes of American Idol – on the same day and time as The X-Factor performance episodes – averaged 19.81 million viewers and a 16.2 rating and 17 share in the demographic. NBC’s comparable series The Voice (which Cowell recently suggested was the place were X-Factor rejects should try out) finished 9th in the ratings (15.77 million) and did a 6.1 rating and a 16 share. This put it in 3rd place in the 18-49 group, just behind American Idol and seven places ahead of The X-Factor, which finished 10th with the 18-49 crowd. By Cowell`s own expectations and what people where hyped into believing this make The X-Factor at least a disappointment of not an actual flop.

New Polls (2 of ‘em) Up

I couldn’t set them up as one this time around, and I couldn’t use my usual polling service but these are a pair of polls that I really like running. As always with these polls the premise is simple (like their author!). Simply choose the name of the show that you think will be cancelled after the fewest number of episodes. Note, I didn’t say which show would be cancelled first. The reason is that since some shows debut a week or two (or more) after everything else it is possible for a show to be cancelled after which airs fewer episodes than the first show to be cancelled chronologically. For example, lets say that Show A debuts on September 19th is cancelled three weeks after it debuts. It is possible that Show B, which debuts on October 3rd to be cancelled on October 18th, fifteen days after it debuted. Show A was cancelled first, but Show B aired fewer episodes.

This poll will run until October 16th OR until the first show in each category is cancelled, whichever comes first. As always, feel free to post comments on why you voted the way you did with this post.

Poll Result - Outstanding Drama Series

For the final Emmy Poll of the year, I asked which show would win the Emmy as outstanding Drama Series. This time around there were more votes cast than in most of the polls this year, but two fewer than in the Comedy series poll.

Eight votes were cast. Receiving no votes were Boardwalk Empire, Dexter, and Friday Night Lights. Receiving two votes (25%) was Mad Men. And in a tie for the lead with three votes each (37.5%) were The Good Wife and Game Of Thrones.

This is a tough category for me. I’ve seen three of the shows – obviously not the two that are on HBO and not Dexter either. I’ve seen a couple of episodes of The Good Wife, and have watched both Friday Night Lights and Mad Men sporadically since they debuted. I will say that I’ve seen some episodes of this past season of Mad Men and found it excellent as always. In fact, if the nominations for Outstanding Drama Series were based on single episodes, as so many of the Emmy categories are, I think a great many people would support Mad Men if they nominated the episode “The Suitcase.” Viewed overall I personally think that Mad Men is one of the best shows on TV and if I had voted, it probably would have gotten my vote. And as good as Friday Night Lights has consistently been, I don’t think that it can overcome the handicaps that it faces having been on DirectTV and then being a bit of an afterthought for NBC. That leaves us with two HBO series and The Good Wife. I haven’t seen enough of The Good Wife to effectively judge how good it is, but I suspect that it will do better in the acting categories than it will here. Is the Academy going to reward a broadcast network show when there are so many cable shows including bridesmaid Mad Men? I’m afraid I have to discount the chances for Game Of Thrones because of the long-standing Emmy prejudice against Science Fiction and Fantasy genre shows. (But is that just my reaction to Fringe never having a nomination in any of the main Emmy categories.) By default then I think the big HBO contender is going to be Boardwalk Empire. The three most likely winners are Boardwalk Empire, The Good Wife and Mad Men and because I’ve seen more of Mad Men, that’s the one I’m going with.

Todd Mason has a different opinion:

THE GOOD WIFE has weak moments, but remains the best drama on US television, despite impressive work on the part of the folks at FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and MAD MEN and DEXTER.
BOARDWALK EMPIRE has an excellent cast for the most part, and shows why an excellent cast can't carry a series without decent scripts.

For what it’s worth Todd (less than the price of a cup of tap water) I can see your point about The Good Wife, and maybe if I had watched more episodes I’d agree with you more whole heartedly, but I do love my Mad Men. As far as Boardwalk Empire is concerned, I agree with your general premise about an excellent cast needing decent scripts (and/or superior direction) but since I haven’t seen the show I will refrain on commenting on whether that’s the case with this show.

I want to have a new poll up for the “Cancellation Derby” in the next day or so, although it might turn out to be two polls running simultaneously for Comedy and Drama. Be back soon.

New Poll - Outstanding Drama Series

Right now I have a headache and heartburn, largely caused by things that this computer is doing to me, so let’s keep this short and sweet. It is our last Emmy Poll and as always there is only one rule: vote for the series that you think should win the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series rather than for the show you are sure will win…if they aren’t one and the same that is. I enjoy getting your comments and responding to them here, so please feel free to comment on the relative merits of the nominees.

 

Deadline for this poll is Saturday, September 17 at Noon (not that I’ve ever made the Noon deadline myself of course). That’s the day before the Emmys are broadcast on FOX.

Poll Results - Outstanding Comedy Series

I nearly forgot about this one and I need to get on with it. There were ten votes in this category. The Big Bang Theory received no votes. In a three way tie for third place with one vote each (10%) are Glee, from FOX, and The Office and 30 Rock, both from NBC. In second place with three votes (30%) was ABC’s Modern Family. But the winner in this category with four votes (40%) was NBC’s Parks & Recreation.

I’ve stated often enough that I don’t watch a lot of sitcoms. The rare exception is The Big Bang Theory which I find hilarious. Thus I’m not really equipped to discuss the relative merits of the various shows that are nominated. However, this time around we have enough comments to get a feeling of the people who voted…even if a few “spammy” comments slipped through.

First up we have this from Todd Mason:

COMMUNITY was actually better than this slate, but only a bit better than PARKS and 30 ROCK. GLEE and MODERN FAMILY don't belong on the ballot.

I happen to agree with you about Glee. The thing is that I don’t know where the show really fits. It gets lumped into the comedy area because it has music and the inevitable association of “musical” is with “comedy.” Just my opinion of course.

Next this statement in support of this stance from Roger Owen Green:

I don't care what they say: Glee is not a comedy! (And neither is Nurse Jackie.)

I agree, particularly about Nurse Jackie. Of course the show wasn’t nominated as a Comedy this year though star Edie Falco was.

My good friend Toby O’Brien had this to say:

Although I enjoy all but "Glee" among the nominees, but only "Parks & Recreation" really took it to a higher plane this year. "Modern Family" and especially "30 Rock" had too many off episodes.....

I’ll take your word for it.

Alex wrote this:

I have to go with Parks & Recreation. Over the past few years, it's found its groove and stepped up its comedy game. Glee is, although entertaining, fundamentally not a good show. It focused on cheap, instant laughs and thrills rather than character development.

I think that the comments about Glee may be right on the mark. Based on some reported slippage in the ratings this past year it may be that the public is growing tired of the Glee “formula.”

Finally we have this from Tom Myler expressing a minority opinion:

Contrary to what of people think, The Office did great this past season! The final arc after Michael Scott left was hilarious.

This definitely does seem to be a minority opinion, even to your point about the arc after Michael Scott left. While there were some moments that professional critics found to be excellent, like the episode where Dwight ran the Scranton branch, many thought there were too many gimmicks in those final episodes. Adding to that is some negative reaction to a lot of the earlier episodes.

New poll up in a few minutes.